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Scott Forschler

former member of Campus Atheists and Secular Humanists (U of MN), Minnesota Atheists

previously taught philosophy at several Minnesota community colleges and the University of Minnesota

author of several peer-reviewed articles and international conference presentations on ethics

author of the upcoming book The Logic of Morality, to be published by Rowman & Littlefield

Scott has been working for several years on the problem of explaining and justifying ethical claims. His goal is to show that many common theories of ethics, including social-functional theories, intuitionistic, egoistic, and relativist/subjectivist views, as well as religious views like the divine command and natural law theories, are both inadequate and provably false. He argues instead that ethics is based in reason, and that it is provably irrational to act in unethical ways, which explains the universality of our conscience (the rational part of our judging capacity). These arguments can clarify the nature of ethical truth, giving secularists increased confidence in their moral judgments, and better arguments against those who would impose their own arbitrary moral judgments on others in the name of religion. Since one argument for God's existence is that this is necessary to explain objective moral truth, demonstrating that moral truth does not and never has relied upon religious beliefs takes away an important pillar of religious belief.

Scott is available to speak on topics such as:

The Rational, Secular Basis of Ethics

The Ethics of Belief

Secular Political Morality/The Moral Basis of Legal Authority

Evolutionary Ethics: Ethical Truth as a Byproduct of our Capacity to Reason

Abortions and Stem Cells: why embryos have no rights

Debating any of the above with either religious or secular speakers with alternative views

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